Aid groups have collected some supplies from Gaza crossing, says UN
Aid groups faced significant challenges distributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting and coordination issues with Israeli authorities, Mr Laerke added.
Under international pressure, Israel has allowed dozens of aid trucks into Gaza after blocking all food, medicine, fuel and other material for nearly three months.
But the supplies have been sitting on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.
Also on Thursday, international leaders were reacting to the shooting of two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC the previous day.
The attack was seen by officials in Israel and the US as the latest in a growing wave of antisemitism as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Japan's Foreign Ministry says it has made 'a severe protest' to Israel over its military's firing of warning shots at a diplomatic delegation including Japanese diplomats that was visiting a refugee camp in the Israel-occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
Vice-minister for Foreign Affairs Takehiro Funakoshi summoned the Israeli Ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen, to request a full explanation and preventive measures.
Mr Fukakoshi told Mr Gilad the incident was 'deeply regrettable and should not have happened'.
Mr Funakoshi also reiterated Japan's strong concern over Israel's attempted reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the expansion of military operations, urging it to allow a full and immediate resumption of aid into Gaza, the foreign ministry said.
Mr Funakoshi also offered his condolences on the killing of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC, stating that 'terrorism is not tolerated anywhere in the world'.
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The Guardian
a few seconds ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Anas al-Sharif and Gaza's journalists: Israel is wiping out the witnesses
Anas al-Sharif knew that far from offering protection amid the slaughter in Gaza, his press credentials further endangered him. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned last month of acute danger to the 28-year-old's life as the Israel Defense Forces stepped up online attacks on him. These were not merely smears, but a death threat in response to his coverage, the Al Jazeera reporter said. And now he is dead, one of five media workers killed in an airstrike on Sunday. The CPJ says that more than 180 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in almost two years of war – more than the number who have died globally in the previous three years. This does not merely reflect Gaza's vast death toll – 61,599, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry and many more if independent experts are correct. Nor does it merely reflect the courage shown by reporters, photographers, camera operators and others in a war zone. The CPJ says 26 of the reporters were targeted. Israeli officials have bragged of killing Mr Sharif, whom they have claimed was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell, planning rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. Mr Sharif and Al Jazeera had already denied this. It would surely be hard for such a prominent figure to combine reporting with command of such a unit. The documents offered up by Israel as evidence end two years before the war began, and were reportedly screen grabs of electronic spreadsheets, not independently verified. Israeli officials have repeatedly offered wildly misleading and rapidly shifting accounts of events, including the killing of paramedics in Gaza this spring. In 2023, an IDF general reportedly told American officials within hours that one of its soldiers had probably shot dead the acclaimed Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank – but Israeli officials insisted publicly that Palestinian militants were to blame. No justification has even been attempted for the deaths of Mr Sharif's colleagues. Mr Sharif's 90-year-old father was killed in an airstrike on their home in late 2023, after Israeli military officials called the journalist telling him to stop reporting and leave Gaza. Israeli claims that he was a Hamas fighter resurfaced last month after his emotional reporting on starvation went viral. He was killed as outrage mounted over Gaza's famine and shortly after Israel announced its plan to launch a ground offensive in Gaza City, which would only deepen the catastrophe and is reportedly opposed by many in the military too. The deaths of the Al Jazeera team in the city ensure few are left to bear witness to what unfolds. International correspondents are unable to enter Gaza except on escorted military trips during which they cannot speak to Palestinians. Sheltered by the US, Israel's government appears unmoved as international public opinion turns against it and even staunch allies blench at the horrors of Gaza. The Al Jazeera killings have been widely and rightly condemned. The Reporters sans Frontières group has also urged the international criminal court to investigate the treatment of media workers. 'If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,' Mr Sharif wrote in a posthumously published statement. Deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime: an assault not only on the person, but on truth itself. Yet it cannot disguise Israel's other atrocities. Rather, it adds to the charge sheet against its leaders.
Daily Mirror
31 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
UK demands Israel stop 'unimaginable' Gaza famine as children starve to death
The UK, Australia and other European states demanded Israel allow unrestricted aid into Gaza, describing the humanitarian suffering as "unimaginable" as another five Palestinians die of starvation Horror-stricken Gaza is suffering a 'famine unfolding before our eyes,' a coalition of western countries declared on Tuesday. The UK, Australia and other European states demanded Israel allow unrestricted aid into Gaza, describing the humanitarian suffering as "unimaginable". In a joint statement signed by the foreign ministers of 24 countries, they said famine is "unfolding before our eyes". It said: "The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation. Humanitarian space must be protected, and aid should never be politicised.' The grim warning happened as Israel continued to batter the Strip with missiles and ground attacks, killing at least 46 Palestinians since dawn on Tuesday. Another five Palestinians, including two children, died from starvation, taking the toll of those dying from lack of food to 227 since the war in the Strip began. Among those who have starved to death, according to health officials, were 103 children, and Israel has continued pounding the enclave daily. It comes after Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu recently 'completely lost it' with angry response to Keir Starmer. The military has been roundly condemned for its killing of Al Jazeera journalists based on the claim that one of them was a Hamas 'terrorist.' Both the UN and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's office have called for an independent investigation to probe the attack. The 24 foreign minister statement continued: "Due to restrictive new registration requirements, essential international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) may be forced to leave the Occupied Palestinian Territories imminently, which would worsen the humanitarian situation still further. "We call on the government of Israel to provide authorisation for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating. Lethal force must not be used at distribution sites, and civilians, humanitarians and medical workers must be protected." The statement was signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The military has been roundly condemned for its killing of Al Jazeera journalists based on the claim that one of them was a Hamas 'terrorist.' Both the UN and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office have called for an independent investigation to probe the attack. The Government Media Office in Gaza reported that only 1,334 aid trucks out of the supposed 9,000 were allowed into Gaza over 15 days. Wadie Said, professor of law at the University of Colorado, says journalists cannot be targeted in conflicts as they are considered 'protected persons' under international law. The latest Israeli targeting and killing of Al Jazeera's journalists is 'remarkable', he said, in that the Israeli military 'engaged in a campaign of terrorisation of Anas al-Sharif directly. It's no longer being hidden, it's no longer being kept under wraps,' Said told Al Jazeera. The war began on October 7 2023 when Hamas broke out of Gaza and killed around 1,200 in southern Israel, kidnapping 250 and taking them back to the Strip. At least 50 remain in captivity , although only 20 are believed to be alive.
The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
On Gaza's killing fields, journalism faces its darkest hour – but that won't stop us reporting
As the world witnesses the horrors unfolding in Gaza, a related tragedy continues with chilling regularity: the systematic targeting and killing of journalists. Just as the Gaza journalistic community thought matters could not get any worse, Benjamin Netanyahu's brutal occupying forces carried out yet another cold-blooded murder on Sunday, this time of the Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, along with videographers Ibrahim Thaher, Mohammed Nofal and their colleagues. They were sheltering in a media tent near al-Shifa hospital, and were killed by a direct strike. The Israeli war machine, accelerating its stated goal of occupying Gaza, showed no restraint in targeting journalists, in violation of international conventions. So far in this war it has killed 238 of us. The war on Gaza has become the deadliest conflict for journalists and media workers in living memory, with 2024 recording the highest number of journalists killed, the vast majority at the hands of Israeli forces. The systematic targeting and elimination of journalists is not merely a local or regional tragedy; it is a catastrophic breach of international norms regarding the protection of journalists in conflict zones, signalling a global collapse of the moral responsibility in safeguarding those who risk everything to shed light on the realities of war. Gaza is not the only place where journalists are under siege. Threats, intimidation and murderous violence against journalists are on the rise. However, what differentiates Israeli crimes is the impunity with which the occupation forces murder journalists and the indifference shown by leaders of the so-called free world. What is especially shocking is when some media organisations repeat the Israeli regime's false allegations against targeted journalists without verification. By any measure, it is the most dangerous time to be a journalist in recent history. Reporters are threatened, harassed and killed merely for fulfilling their public duty of bearing witness and reporting the truth. Worldwide, the dangers faced by journalists in conflict zones have intensified. In 2023, a journalist or media worker was killed, on average, every four days. In 2024, this grim statistic worsened to once every three days, most of those by Israeli forces. The journalists in Gaza are not parachuted-in international correspondents but local journalists – those who know the land, the people and the stories best. These journalists are not just reporting on Gaza's tragedy; they are living it. This surge in violence against journalists is neither accidental nor isolated. It is part of a broader, deeply worrying trend: the systematic silencing of the media, often orchestrated by autocrats and regimes who seek to conceal their crimes in darkness. This should horrify us all. It is an assault not only on individual reporters but on the entire global public's right to know, to understand the depth of human suffering, and to hold the powerful to account. Beyond the killings of more than 230 journalists, Israel now employs starvation as a tool, with journalists pushed to the brink, collapsing from hunger while reporting. At Al Jazeera, we have lost colleagues and their family members in Gaza, with the latest killing of Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues bringing the total number of the network's journalists killed to nine. Our colleagues have been forced to report not just on the atrocities happening to civilians, but on the direct attacks against those whose only weapon is a microphone or a camera. Despite this, we insist on continuing in our professional duty. We remain committed to reporting unfolding genocide, despite Israeli efforts to blind us and the world. We will tirelessly work to strengthen the teams and to remain faithful to our global audience, who have a right to be informed. But this requires international solidarity, and the exertion of full pressure on Israel to stop targeting and killing journalists and to allow international media access and freedom of operation in the Gaza Strip. The international community must act, urgently and decisively, to safeguard journalists and to protect those who risk everything to inform the world about the continuing humanitarian catastrophe and genocide in Gaza. Journalists must be allowed to perform their duties without fear of violence. Anything less is a betrayal of the most fundamental principles of free expression. We owe it to the courageous journalists in Gaza to amplify their voices. Their work is not merely documentation; it is the first draft of history, whereby future historians will study the horrors of the 21st century's most televised genocide. Access to reliable information about wars and conflicts is not a luxury; it is essential for the wellbeing of global populations, the protection of human rights and the global effort to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable. When journalists are silenced, we all become more vulnerable to disinformation, propaganda and the unchecked abuse of power. We are at a crossroads. If the world continues to tolerate the murder, starvation and persecution of journalists, it is not only journalism that will suffer, but also accountability, democracy and the possibility of a more just future. The international legal framework for the protection of journalists in war must be urgently strengthened and enforced, and governments must be held to account for violations. The international journalistic community, and indeed the world, bears an immense responsibility. The courage, commitment and sacrifice of journalists in Gaza demand nothing less than our full support and unrelenting advocacy. Our inaction will be recorded by history as a monumental failure to protect those who stood at the frontlines of truth. Asef Hamidi is the director of news, Al Jazeera Channel Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
